Item #23: Summary

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I really liked learning about mash-ups and image generators. It's a fun tool that I can probably see myself using in the future.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I was kind of already familiar with some of these tools but didn't have an in-depth, hands-on experience with them. This program has allowed me the opportunity to actually explore and use these tools and think of possible applications.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was surprised to learn of the many free productivity tools available. I will defintely take advantage of some of the calender programs.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I think the program was great. The 2.0 team gave a lot of support and updates. It was good to know that it wasn't some program that was out there in the void. We actually got comments, updates, and encouragement.
And last but not least…If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Yes, defintely.

Item # 22: E-books and Audio-E-books

San Jose has a great selection of e-books. Unfortunately most of our customers don't have computers at home to access these selections. Somehow these e-books manage to always be available in titles that I am looking for with patrons and not in print!
World-ebook Fair seems to have a lot of worthy academic material. The search feature is terrible and I found it's better to "browse collections".

Item # 21 :Podcasts

I've known about podcasts for some time now. I haven't actually explored it until recently, coincidentally, last night! I have an iPod and iTunes so I use that. iTunes is nice since it manages my music and my podcasts. I was getting tired just listening to the same old music I have in my iPod so I thought I would check out podcasts again. I discovered there are learn a language podcasts which is great. Also, podcasts are nice when you want a quick lesson. I found some great, concise money management/ investing podcasts.
I added the Times book review to my Bloglines account.
Podcast Alley has good content . It's easy to browse by genre. I prefer using iTunes however, I think it's easier to view and subscribe to.

Item # 20: YouTube

Fun video, good laugh. No reasoning to it, just something fun and light. I tried watching one clip and it wouldn't stream fluidly. Possible SJ connection or due to the populaity of the clip. Regardless, it was annoying and I hate waiting for downloads.
Library websites could use news clips and have a daily news video updates section. Or libraries could have their own groups and use YouTube as a tool to share videos from meetings, trainings, conferences, and presentations.

Item #19: Library Thing

This is a pretty cool tool. The books I selected were bestsellers so they were quite popular. This is a good tool when I have those "Read any good books lately" conversations. Now if I can't remember the titles/ authors, I can refer to my Library Thing account or refer friends to it.
I couldn't find some non-fiction titles I was looking for but then again I didn' search too hard.

Item #18: Online Productivity

I like online word processing. I've used Google's version before and Zoho is quite similar. Basically, it's nice to access docs from anywhere without a disk or hardrive. I should remind myself to tell patrons about this program. I always have people that need their resume last minute but don't know where their disk is. This would be a good way to remedy it.

Item # 16 & 17: Wikis

I looked at the Book Lovers Wiki and the Albany County Public Library Staff Wiki-

Naturally, the Book Lovers wiki would work with libraries for readers advisory
and definitely a staff wiki.
As a PT worker I find that I miss a lot of information so a library staff wiki would be great. I could access one place online from(work or home) and at anytime. It would be great for other staff to resource share as well. Staff that do not attend certain meetings or communication between managers/ circ staff/ and librarians.
The only downside is that it must be maintained, updated, and added to otherwise there's no point. The staff must have time to maintain wiki's.


Wiki's would be good to use at work to get a general sense of an unknown topic and for readers advisory.